Why The Google Pixel 2 Is The Best Android On The Market

Factors that make the Google Pixel 2 the best choice amongst Android smartphones; the main two being top quality camera and the best version of the Android platform.

Best in class camera key to Android creator’s phone being the top pick

When Google move into a certain market they soon become key players if not industry leaders. Their dominance of Internet search is proven by an overwhelming majority of web users turning to Google search when surfing the web, their Chrome web browser is the first choice for many, Chromebook laptops sell by the truckload and their mobile device platform, Android, is the most widely used of any mobile operating system.

Their own smartphone range has taken a while to establish itself in what is a very hotly contested market led by class leading phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and the newer S8, but the Pixel 2 could easily be said to be the most desirable Android smartphone of them all and may see the Internet giant dominate yet another market.

What is the Google Pixel?

It’s Google’s own smartphone offering available in two versions; the 5 inch screen Pixel 2 and the larger, 6 inch screen XL variant. Both phones are made for Google by other smartphone manufacturers – the Pixel 2 by HTC and the XL by LG – but both phones are definitely ‘unique to Google’ in design.

As with most smartphones available these days, both Pixel phones are powerful and fully featured mobile devices packing the sort of power to rival that of many people’s laptops.

What makes the Pixel so appealing?

Overall it’s a very powerful and well featured smartphone, but the following are major selling points:

Camera quality

A huge attraction of the Pixel phone is the class leading camera.

From originally being no more than a handy add on to a mobile phone, a high quality camera usable for much general purpose photography is expected on smartphones now. Amongst some very stiff competition from the likes of Samsung with the excellent camera on their S8 and Apple with the latest dual lens offering on the iPhone 8 Plus and X, the Pixel’s camera is widely considered the best of them all.

Where other smartphone makers are turning to duel lens cameras to move the game on in terms of photo quality and low light performance, Google has eschewed this in favour of sticking to single lens designs with an increased number of pixels on the camera’s sensor to improve image quality.

Photography on smartphones is a key consideration for many users what with the increased use of social media and the desire to combine digital equipment into one device so cutting out the need for carrying a separate camera.

A ‘pure’ Android experience

One of the weaknesses of the Android platform, compared to its chief rival iOS from Apple, is the varying versions of it installed on smartphones from the various manufacturers who use it to power their phones.

While Apple’s iOS will be the same throughout different iPhones in use, Android can appear in a multitude of different ‘flavours’ depending on whether it’s used in a Samsung, LG or HTC device amongst others. It doesn’t always get updated as swiftly as iPhone users receive iOS updates, and various manufacturers put their own ‘spin’ on Android such as Samsung with their TouchWiz software add on.

If you use a Google phone such as the Pixel 2, as Android’s creator the version of the operating system on their phone will always be the latest release and won’t contain third party add ons and variations.

Again, while iPhone users all get notified when a new or updated version of iOS is released (assuming their phone isn’t too old to be compatible with it), not all Android users receive notifications when new or improved versions of Android are available.

This can pose a problem such as when security patches aren’t being installed on all Android phones; users of Google’s own Pixel phone can be confident their handset will be running the slickest, newest and most secure version of the platform.

Other reasons why the Pixel is a winner

The two above reasons make a strong argument for the Pixel phone; in terms of power, screen technology (it uses the latest OLED screen type), battery life and waterproofing it matches its key rivals.

A couple of very useful features include an ‘always on’ screen so even when in sleep mode the screen displays the time and any notifications, and summoning the spoken voiced digital assistant is easy in that you simply squeeze each side of the phone as opposed to digging through a menu or searching for a concealed button somewhere.

So for a class leading camera and the best version of the all-important operating system the Pixel 2 makes a great choice.